Teen convicted of more than 50,000 computer hacks

A teenager involved in series of high profile cyber attacks has been convicted for his crimes in Finland.

Julius Kivimaki was found guilty of 50,700 "instances of aggravated computer break-ins".

Court documents state that his attacks affected Harvard University and MIT among others, and involved hijacking emails, blocking traffic to websites and the theft of credit card details.

Despite the severity of the crimes, the 17-year-old has not been jailed.

Instead, the District Court of Espoo sentenced the youth - who had used the nickname Zeekill - to a two-year suspended prison sentence.

It also confiscated his PC and ordered him to handover €6,588 (£4,725) worth of property obtained through his crimes.

Judge Wilhelm Norrmann noted that Kivimaki had only been 15 and 16 when he carried out the crimes in 2012 and 2013.

"The verdict took into account the young age of the defendant at the time, his capacity to understand the harmfulness of the crimes, and the fact that he had been imprisoned for about a month during the pre-trial investigation," said a statement from the court.

One consultant, who advises Europol and others on cybercrime matters, expressed concern about the sentence.

"Whilst I'm sure the courts considered all the circumstances surrounding the conviction and the sentence that was warranted, there is a question as to whether such sentences will act as a deterrent to other hackers," said the consultant, Alan Woodward.

"It is not necessarily the place of the courts to factor in deterrence in their sentences.

"However, if I were another hacking group, was not that bothered about just having something on my record, and saw someone attract a suspended sentence for over 50,000 hacks, some of which caused significant damage, I don't think it would cause me much concern," he added.